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1 Skydive Chatteris Club Ltd Chatteris Airfield Block Fen Drove Wimblington March PE15 0FB Minutes of the Board Meeting of Skydive Chatteris Club Ltd held at 2.45pm on 14 May 2016 at Chatteris Airfield, Block Fen Drove, Wimblington, March PE15 0FB Present: Mike Rust - Chairman Simon Chipp - Vice Chairman Martin Crossley - Treasurer Graham Ablett - Secretary Christopher Beattie - Development Officer Tim Hanlon - Deputy Development Officer Apologies: Others in attendance: None None The Chairman asked if anyone present had any interests to declare. None were declared. The Chairman asked the Directors to look at the minutes of the previous meeting. Matters arising: Flight ticket pricing structure There was a general discussion regarding how the club could best reward regular club jumpers as well as encourage loyalty to the club. Martin proposed that a sliding scale of flight ticket pricing be introduced with the cost reducing as the number of jumps made by a club member during any one season increased (from the club opening date in February to the December closing date). Martin proposed that this be set at: First 50 flight tickets in any one season to be 20 Next 25 flight tickets (51 to 75) being 15 Any flights thereafter (76 onwards) being 12 Chris seconded the motion. Graham suggested that a reduced flight ticket price be available to club members who wished to make hop & pop jumps from altitudes up to 5,000 feet, for instance during canopy courses or on canopy coaching jumps. Martin said that when the aircraft continued to altitude after a lower pass there was actually very little cost savings to be made by some jumpers getting out early. He did

2 however agree to look into the matter further adding that a new smaller aircraft should soon be available for club jumpers. Martin said that following on from the discussion on rewarding the clubs most regular jumpers he was also looking into a discount scheme for members using the canteen facilities, possibly with a discount being applied after a certain number of jumps being made in any one season. Development Plan Martin said that he had now received official confirmation from HMRC confirming that they accepted the basis on which the club conducted its business with regard to the VAT treatment of flights. Martin said that with regard to the booking in system discussed at the previous meeting there had been no need to implement the system so far. Mike asked if Peter Knudsen had been contacted to see if he was interested in taking on the role of club coordinator / load organiser as discussed at the previous meeting. Simon said that he had contacted Peter but that he wasn t able to assist. In respect of the equipment purchase discussed at the previous meeting Mike said that two new sets of equipment had been ordered but they had not yet delivered. Simon said that four wingsuits had also been ordered, three of which had already been delivered and were already in use. Mike informed the committee that in respect of the social fund discussed at the previous meeting he was now in possession of approx. 200 of club funds to help pay for events. Martin asked what progress had been made in identifying caravans that might be available for club members to use. Mike said that two on site were currently unused but both were in a quite a poor state, one particularly so. Martin suggested that they both be removed to make space for the purchase of replacements previously agreed in principle. Mike said that he would endeavour to get this done during the next week or so as and when time allowed. In respect of the clubhouse & barbeque cleaning discussed at the previous meeting Mike said that the two new packers had now arrived and had agreed to clean the areas concerned. He said that so far they were doing a good job. Chris and Graham then brought the committee up to speed on what events had taken place / were being arranged. There had already been an Introduction to big way event held on 23 rd / 24 th April, the organiser being Chris Shaw. Graham said that Chris Shaw had kindly agreed to waive his usual 100 per day fee for the initial event. Chris Beattie said that the weekend had gone well and Chris Shaw had been rebooked to organise similar big way events on the weekends of 21 st / 22 nd May & 6 th / 7 th August with additional organisational support being provided by Graham. Chris Shaw was in some demand and was fully booked until after BPA nationals but if the forthcoming events went as hoped it might be possible to arrange further events later in the year & possibly look into booking Chris early for next season. Chris Beattie informed the committee that a repeat of last years selfjudged 3 way scrambles event was being planned for weekend of 25 th / 26 th June and this was being organised by Graham. The plan was to advertise this on Facebook after the May big way event.

3 Chis Beattie said that there had been some progress in respect of arranging BPA roadshows. We had been promised a FS event in July but were yet to hear back from the BPA representative with a specific date. A CF roadshow had been arranged for the weekend of 13 th / 14th August. Chris said that a WS event was planned for September and that he was arranging this direct with Sam Lamming. Mike asked Simon if there had been any developments in respect of the Alter Ego canopy course. Simon said that a provisional start date of 23 rd September had been arranged but that the cost had increased significantly from last year to $190 per person per day (plus flight tickets). He had looked into whether it would be cheaper to pay Curt & Jeannie a day rate but this had worked out to be more expensive. Simon said that he was concerned the higher cost was likely to put a lot of people off. Mike said that whilst it would be nice to have the world champions arrange the course most of the likely participants would be at quite a low level and there may well be other competent canopy coaches who could run a course at a more affordable level. Simon proposed that in principle any course we run be subsidised by the club to some degree for full members but that he would look into the cost of an alternative coach. Mike seconded the proposal The prospect of load organising was then discussed. Graham said that a number of club members had said this was an area where they felt the club was lacking (in all disciplines). The idea of free flights for authorised load organisers was discussed and received general approval. The number of club members required on a jump to qualify for a load organiser was then discussed. Graham pointed out that under the new tracking rules the maximum number of jumpers allowed on a tracking jump, if any of the participants were only TR1 qualified, was just four which included the coach / load organiser. Martin then proposed that a free load organiser flight be available on any jump where there were three or more club members who wanted organising (in any discipline). But that at this point only Graham would be a club authorised load organiser. Mike seconded the motion Chris Beattie said that the prospect of night jumps had also proved popular. He said that these have previously been conducted in November when the clocks had gone back but that there were quite a lot of logistical and other problems to think through. Chris suggested that the idea of night jumps be agreed in principle subject to it being realistic to arrange. This was agreed. Martin informed the committee that he had now finalised his plan as regards a 4 way competition with him providing the prize money. This had already been advertised in the main BPA publication as well as the internet. Mike said that in respect of the Bursary scheme agreed at the previous meeting there had been two applications submitted. Both were for support in obtaining a FF1 qualification, one from Sophie Barnwell and the other from Andrew Mines. The applications were perused by the committee members then discussed. It was felt that both applicants were deserving cases, particularly in

4 respect of their club loyalty and club involvement. Tim said that whilst the applicants had requested different amounts he felt they should both receive the same assistance and suggested the sum of 250 each. He proposed that that this amount be paid into their flight ticket account to be used for solo FF / organised FF jumps as required. Chris seconded the motion. (Mike to write to both applicants) Mike asked Simon if any progress had been made in respect of local community / business involvement to promote club activities. He said that he had spoken to the owner of a local restaurant / pub who seemed keen in offering incentives to club members including free transport to and from the dropzone as well as possibly discounted drinks but as yet there were no firm arrangements agreed. Having reviewed and addressed the points from the previous meeting of 14 th February 2016 Martin proposed that they be accepted as a true record. Tim seconded the motion Carried with one abstention (Graham who hadn t been present) New Business Martin said that he was conducting a feasibility study into the purchase of a hot air balloon for the use of the club. He said a trip was planned to Cameron Balloons in Bristol who are the world leaders in their field. Martin said that the company had previously supplied balloons as well as skydive specific baskets to Skydive Dubai. He said the study was at an early stage and there were many aspects to look into such as running costs, insurance, planning permission and training. He promised to keep the committee updated as more information became available. Graham asked if the club would consider further subsidising newly qualified jumpers who were involved in the FS progression system. At the moment students on 2 ways jumps were required to purchase their own flight ticket at 20 as well as pay the organisers subsidised flight only ticket cost of 10. When it came to the student s 3 way and 4 way jumps they were required to pay the additional participant s flight only tickets at 20. Graham proposed that additional flights required on FS student s 3 and 4 way qualification jumps also be made available at the organisers flight only rate of 10, but just for Skydive Chatteris own AFF graduates. There was some discussion about the matter with Tim saying he had always offered to pay his own slot on FS qualification jumps. Graham thanked Tim for his offer to help at his own expense but added that not all instructors and other jumpers were prepared to do so. Graham added that the number of qualifying jumps affected would be quite small, in fact he had only done one such jump so far this season. Mike seconded the proposal Graham asked if the club would consider upgrading the video download /playback & storage facilities currently installed in the upstairs hangar area. The facility is currently used by coaches, fun jumpers and load organisers to debrief & share footage of jumps. At the moment both computers in use had been donated and were barely capable of playing modern video formats. Graham said that

5 he had discussed the matter with Lloyd and Andrew Mines (a club member who works in this field). Apparently it would be possible to download footage to a central hard drive then have it available to view in both the upstairs hangar area as well as the clubhouse. Equipment required would include a large screen TV for the upstairs hangar area, a new computer, two media boxes and some cabling. Lloyd and Andrew had suggested a budget of 1,000 should provide a good quality up to date system although Andrew might be able to provide a second hand 50 Samsung TV at a lower cost to reduce the overall budget slightly. After some discussion Graham was asked to look into the matter further & come back with a confirmed cost. There was no other business and the meeting was closed at 3.45pm